James McNamara

• This article analyses a narrative pattern in Tacitus’ Agricola dealing with the crossing of natural boundaries. First it discusses imaginary geography and the connections between the bounds of nature and the psychology of Agricola and his soldiers. It then turns to a discus- sion of paradoxes inherent in how the bounds of nature are handled, and discusses several traditions on which Tacitus draws. In declama- tion the edges of the earth represent a mystery and a danger, while the philosophical topos of the flight of the mind, as exemplified by Lucretius’ praises of Epicurus, offers a positive scheme in which breaking the bounds of nature is a metaphor for major intellectual achievement. The implications of Agricola’s identity as a provincial Roman are discussed, along with the glimpses of an imaginary geog- raphy in which Rome is de-centred. Finally the article considers how Tacitus inverts a literary tradition of associating the periphery of the earth with death and the underworld.